Walking toy



J. H. SHAW.

WALKING TOY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4,1919.

Patented Feb. 24,1920.

4 avwenboz UNITED STATES JOHN H. SHAW, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

WALKING TOY.

Specification of Letters Patent. 1 Patehted Feb, 24;, 1920.

Applicationfiled June 4, 1919. Serial No. 301,704.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JOHN H. SHAW, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county-of New Haven, State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Walking Toys, ofwhichthe-following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to walking toys, and more particularly to dollsor the like constructed to simulate more or less accurately the walk ofa human being, although it will be apparent that the mechanism hereindisclosed may equally as well be applied to toy animals provided witheither two or four legs.

The primary object of my invention is .to improvethe operation ofwalking toys and particularly the type of toys which are designed toberocked from side to side during the Walking operation to permit eachfoot to clear the floor as it is being advanced.

A more specific object of my invention is to construct thefeet ofthe't'ype of toy, just referred to,- so" that each foot,- while beingadvanced, will clear the floor when a very small amount of lateralrocking movement is imparted to the toy.

Another object of my invention is to provide means" whereby theoperation of the type of walking toy to which this inventionurelatesmaybe materially improved without increasing the cost'of manufacturi'ngthesame. I

To these and other endsthe invention consists in the novel. featuresandcombinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a front view of a dollemb'odying my invention, the doll being shown tilted slightly to theleft topermit one foot to clear the floor as it is swung to its forwardposition.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l'show ing the doll tilted "slightly tothe'right in order'th-at the other foot may clear the floor as it isswung to its forward position.

Fig, 3'is a side view of Fig. 1, a part of the'dollbeing broken away toshow the'pivotal connection between the leg and body.

Fig. 4 is amenlar ged sectional view taken on the-line H of Fig. 3looking in the direction of the arrow; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged front View of a shoe having the sole thereofconstructed in accordance with my invention.

In the embodiment of myinvention illustrated in the drawing, I haveshown a toy doll having a one-piece head and body or trunk designated bythe numeral 10, and having legs 11' and 12 pivotally' secured to the.trunk 10 by means of pivot pins 13,,

which pins extend transversely through the upper portion of each of thelegs andthrough the lower portion of the downwardly projecting posts14:. The upper ends of which posts are rigidly secured in the bodyportion 10. The body portion 10 has spaced concaved sockets 15 formed inthelower end thereof to provide clearance spaces for the upper roundedends of the pivoted legs 11 and 12. The legs are in this mannervpivotally secured to the body portion of the toy, so that they may befreely swung back and forth relatively to the body portionor trunk 10,and these legs are normally swungto their forward position by 'a bentspring 16 seated in a slot formed in the post 14, with one endof thisspring abutting against the post and the other end abutting against aportion of each leg above the pivot pin 13. The construction andoperation of the walking toy, so far described, is more fully disclosedand described in my copending application,

' Serial No. 276,133, filed February 10, 1919,

of the foot being advanced; otherwise the freemovement of the foot toits forward position will be interfered with by the same dragging overthe floor. Thesimplest way to obtain this necessary clearance betweenthe floor and the advancing foot is to tilt the toy transverselyslightly in one direction until one foot is advanced, and then tilt thetoy in the opposite direction while the other foot is being advanced. Inorder to increase the clearance between the floor or the like and thebottom of the foot which is being advanced, I have cut away the soles ofthe feet or shoes with which my walking toy is provided,as indicated bythe numeral 17 ,the soles being cut away in such a manner that only themarginal portion of the sole of each foot adjacent the outside of thefoot engages the surface upon which the toy walks. In this manner, theextent to which the walking toy need be rocked lat- V erally in firstone direction and then the other is materially reduced, so that it isnecessary to impart only a very slight lateral swaying movement to mytoy, in order that first one foot and then the other may be advanced bythe spring 16, as the same walks upon a supporting surface. The effectin cutting away the bottoms of-the feet or the soles of the shoes, asindicated by the numeral 17, is to make the distance as great aspossible between the portion of one foot that engages the floor and thecorresponding portion of the other foot which engages the floor withoutincreasing the distance between the legs 11 and 12. The floor or surfaceupon which the toy walks is indicated by the numeral 18, and theengagement of the outer marginal edge of the sole of the feet or shoeswith this surface 18 is clearly shown in the drawing.

This construction is desirable, since when the toy is rocked laterally,it rocks uport the outside marginal edge of the sole 0 an unnaturalappearance.

first one foot and then upon the outside marginal edge of the sole ofthe other foot, and the greater the distance between these portions ofthe feet or shoes which engage the supporting surface, the smaller theangle -through which the toy must be rocked in a lateral direction tocause the free foot to clear the supporting surface while it is beingadvanced. In this manner I obtain a walking toy which requires a verysmall late'ralrocking movement to be imparted to the same in order topermit first one foot and then the other to clear the supporting surfacewhile the same is being moved to its forward position, and this objectis obtained without spacing the feet apart to such anextent that the toywould be given operation is due to the fact that by constructing thefeet of the toy so that themarginal portion of each sole adjacent theother foot is prevented from engaging the surface 18, each foot clearsthe supporting surface as soon as the marginal portion of the soleadjacent the outside of the foot is lifted out of engagement with thesame.

It is apparent that a walking toy of the This desirable I type to whichthis application relates may have the feet. of the same cut away asindicated in this application, or that the walking toy may be providedwith shoes, the soles of which are cut away, as herein set forth, and itis also'appa-rent that the soles of the feet or shoes may be constructedin various different ways to obtain thhe operation herein described,without departing from the scope of my invention, as defined in theannexed claims.

What I claim is: r

1. A walking'toyhaving legs pivotally secured to the body thereof,resilient means for swinging said legs about their pivot to the advanceposition, and feet upon said legs, said feet away so that only themarginal portion of the sole adjacent the outside of the footengages thesurface upon which the toy. walks, to thereby increase the clearancebetween eachfoot and the-supportingsurface while the foot is beingadvanced- 2. A walking toy having le'gspivotally secured to the bodythereof, said legs arranged to be swung about their pivot from havingthe soles thereof cut.

the rearward to the advance position, and

feet upon said legs, said feet having the soles thereof cut away so thatonly the marginal portion of the sole adjacent the outside of the footengages the surface upon which the toy' walks, to thereby increase theclearance between each foot and the supporting surface while the foot isbeing advanced.

3. A walking toy having legs pivotally securedv to the body thereof,means for swingingsaidlegs about their pivot to the advance positionwhen the toy is tilted slightly sidewise, and feet upon said'legs,

said feet having the soles thereof cutaway so that only-the marginalportionof the sole swinging said legs about their'pivot to the.

advance position, and feet upon said legs,

said feet-having the marginal portion'of advanced. whereby whenthewalking their solesadjacent the outside of each foot y constructedtoextend downward beyond the remaining portion of said soles whereby onlythis marginal portion of each sole engages-the surface upon which thetoy walks,

to thereby increase the clearance between 1 each foot and thewsupportingsurface while the foot is being advanced.

'5. A walking toy having legs pivotally secured to the body thereof,said legs arranged to be swung about their pivot from the rearward tothe advance position, and feet upon said legs, said feet having thatportion of their soles which lies nearest the other foot cut away to atall times clear the surface upon which the toy walks.

6. A walking toy having legs pivotally secured to the body thereof,means for 10 swinging said legs about their pivot to the V advanceposition, and feet upon said legs, said feet having that portion oftheir soles which lies nearest the other foot cut away to at all timesclear the surface upon which the toy walks, to thereby increase theclearance between each foot and the supporting surface while the foot isbeing advanced.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand on the 2d day of June,1919.

JOHN H. SHAW.

